The Aeonic Perspective of the Enochian Temples

by Benjamin Rowe

The initiatory system of the Enochian Temples divides the path
of initiation into four major stages, distinguished primarily
by the types and sources of the influences they are sensitive
to. Briefly, these stages are:

1. Lunar-planetary, focused in Yesod and governing the triangle
formed by Netzach, Hod, and Malkuth. Sensitive to forces originating
inside the aura of the Earth (primarily elemental), and generally
controlled by those forces. Represented in the Temple by the floor
and altars. Related to the aeon of Taurus.

2. Solar-planetary, focused in Tiphereth and governing the rectangle
formed by Hod, Netzach, Geburah and Chesed. Sensitive to elemental
forces, but actively dominating them. Also sensitive to and controlled
by the forces of the zodiacal signs. Represented in the Temple
by the pillars and sephirotic crosses. Related to the aeon of
Aries.

3. Solar-systemic or Solar-transitional, governing the rectangle
formed by Geburah, Chesed, Binah and Chokmah. This stage has no
stable focus point. Sensitive to the energies of the other planets
of the solar system. Represented in the Temple by the roof and
outer curtain. Related to the aeon of Pisces.

4. Cosmic, focused in Kether and governing the triangle formed
by Kether, Chokmah, and Binah. Sensitive to cosmic forces, primarily
those of the zodiacal constellations (not to be confused with
the zodiac signs) and the constellations of Polaris, the Great
Bear, Sirius, and the Pleiades. These latter four constellations
are the cosmic prototypes for the four levels of this initiatory
system. Represented in the Temple by the Sphere of the Three Names
of God, and by the pillar of fire in the middle of the Temple.
Related to the aeon of Aquarius.

The progression through these four stages is symbolized in the
formula I.R.N.I., a reversal of the Piscean formula of I.N.R.I.
or IAO.

The older formula is primarily concerned with the relations between
the Lunar- planetary and Solar-planetary stages through the cyclic
process of reincarnation. Under that formula, one lived in the
world (first I), then died (N) to be reborn as a soul (R), which
then incarnated again (last I). But the actions of the Aeonic
Prophet of the Piscean aeon symbolized in the stories of Jesus,
and their absorbtion into the zeitgeist, have completely eliminated
any need for death or a death-like experience in the transition
between Lunar and Solar stages.

At humanity's present level of development, the Solar consciousness
can be achieved while in incarnation by anyone who wants it through
strong desire (the lowest aspect of Will), self-analysis, and
meditation. Effort is still required, but no loss of self occurs
in the process. In the incoming Aquarian aeon, the shift from
Solar-planetary to Cosmic awareness still requires a series of
willed death-like experiences. So the "N" of I.N.R.I
has been properly moved to follow the solar "R" in the
new formula.

The mythological system of the Earth Tablet working depicts the
I.R.N.I. formula under the character of the two Warrior-Mages
(Horus and Set) whose efforts link the Lesser Mother, the Earth,
with the Greater Mother, Nuit. In the old formula Set was depicted
as inferior to Horus, representing a false death which the earthbound
soul conquered to achieve full awareness of itself. In the new
formula, he represents the conscious destruction of the soul that
must occur before the person can unite the awareness with the
divine Will. This is a true annihilation of the Solar being, unlike
the death of the old formula, which was only a change of state
having no permanent effect on the Solar being.

Thus, at the end of point 0 Set proclaims himself to have finally
conquered Horus. The soul, the individual self-aware identity,
perishes, to be replaced by the monadic awareness symbolized by
Hadit. As it is said, "There is an end to the word of the
God enthroned in Ra's seat, lightening the girders of the soul."
The higher formula, linking the Earth with the Cosmos, supercedes
the lower formula, linking the Earth with the Sun.

(This may seem to contradict what was said in point 0. It is the
soul as an "ego- making faculty" that is destroyed.
This faculty is the persistent tendency of the solar consciousness
to perceive itself as the most important thing that exists, and
its tendency to polarize the other sephiroth of the Ruach so that
their natural action is subordinated to the solar consciousness.
Once this aspect of the soul is destroyed the entire Ruach, including
Tiphereth, becomes polarized so that it is fully responsive to
the monadic consciousness that is the true core-being of man.)

Set's comments in point 0 about his relations with Horus are a
depiction of this supersession of formulas. But they are also
a depiction of the relations between Aleister Crowley, representing
Horus, and Charles Stansfield Jones, representing Set. Just as
the formula of the Piscean aeon was enacted by the mage Jesus,
so the formula of the Aquarian aeon was being enacted by these
two, and continues to be enacted by Set's current avatar.

In this aeonic mystery play, the first player to appear is brash
Horus, representing the conquering child, the perfected Warrior-King
of the aeon of Aries. The next to appear (as Horus' "magickal
son") identified himself as a god of the Elements, and of
the Earth, connecting him with Set, the scorpionic "dark
son" of the Taurean aeon.

Fiery Horus hated the watery formula of the Piscean Aeon. As a
child, he suffered under the most debased applications of the
Piscean formula. As an adult, he denied the formula completely
and acted as if the entire aeon was an aberration. He closed the
old aeon on one level by replacing the repressive religious paternalism
of his childhood environment (Jupiter, ruler of Pisces) with the
rebellious independence that is the lowest aspect of Uranus, the
new ruler of Aquarius.

Watery Set already possessed control over the Uranian energies;
Uranus is exalted in Scorpio. This enabled him to rise up and
embrace the higher aspect of Aquarius. He used the astrological
wisdom of Thoth (Mercury, exalted in Aquarius) to re-formulate
the Tree of Life, to "fix the design in its purity",
so that thee power of Cosmic Love (Venus exalted in Pisces) was
replaced with the sign of the new aeon, and the Word of the Law
descends from Kether to Tiphereth as Heru-Ra-Ha, the Divine Will
of the path of Shin.1 In addition his Tree embodies the formulas
of the new aeon and the three previous aeons, showing their correct
relationship and unifying them in a single path of initiation.

Horus correctly overcame the exoteric aspects of Pisces, but he
was caught by the esoteric aspect of Divine Love, under the formula
of the Rose Cross. He could not abandon the Arian/Piscean version
of the Tree of Life, which embodies this formula in its three
horizontal paths. Had he done so, the mystery of the Warrior-Mages
would have been enacted under the more benevolent symbolism of
Arthurian romance. But he did not recognize the higher aspect
of the Aquarian energy, and, invoking Tradition and Authority
(Saturn) to justify himself, launched an attack on Set. Publicly
Horus questioned Set's sanity; magickally he used the links created
by Set's oath to his magickal Orders as a means of attack. Thus
he caused Set's manifestation to shift from its silent middle
aspect into its more potent scorpion and eagle modes. The destroyer
aspect manifested in Jones' increasingly vicious verbal attacks
on Crowley. The eagle aspect was needed so that Set could complete
the job that Horus failed to do.

Each full aeonic cycle is a fresh start, building on the past
but not limited by it. Saturn was ruler of Aquarius during the
previous Great Cycle, and by invoking it Horus invoked the powers
of that cycle. Having just announced that the old cycle had come
to completion, he now said, in effect, "Hey - I take that
back." He wanted the change to stop in the middle, so that
he could keep the Rose Cross as the supreme formula.

This left it up to Set, with his superior awareness of the divine
Will manifesting through Uranus, to transform the divine Love
of Pisces into the Universal Mercury of Aquarius. Set is never
one to step back from necessary work, and he proceeded to do this
task in a fashion that was both grand in conception and elegantly
direct and simple in execution. He joined the center of Piscean
power, the Catholic Church, and spent several years being initiated
in its system to form magickal links with its esoteric power.

He then traveled west to the limits of the Church's influence,
taking the objects that were his link to the Church with him.
He invoked the forces of the new aeon, and cast away the magickal
links to show that under the dark cloak of the Church's teaching
was hid the form of the Air kerub of Aquarius, the Man. The warrior-king's
warriors (in the form of the local police) grabbed him immediately,
but too late to affect the ceremony. Thus he completed the closing
of the old aeon where Horus faltered.2

Horus, having cut himself off from the true scorpian current by
his rejection of Set, continued to delve into the past; he invoked
various gods from his own Aries aeon to substitute for the lost
current of divine Will. He pulled so much power from that past
aeon that a countering current from the future aeon of Maat, Libra,
came in to balance it.

Now Set, no longer Jones, completes the manifestation of his current
by showing the perfection of the Will in the Eagle aspect of Scorpio.
This Eagle is that energy that binds together the receptive and
active aspects of Tiphereth. Released from Tiphereth by the self-willed
death of the Scorpion, it is tested and purified by the venom
of the Snake, which kills off any remaining shreds of solar matter
that might cling to it. It becomes pure Will. Purified, it is
immune to the venom and can no longer be killed by any means.
It rises on wings of will to land in the path of Tzaddi, where
it exchanges its watery Scorpio nature to enter the stellar realms
of Aquarius. 3

Set's current avatar demonstrates this aspect and completes the
enactment of the formula of the Aeon. As the god says in point
0, Horus attempted to destroy his work in the previous avatar,
and for a time appeared to have succeeded. But Set's purified
will aspect enabled him to maintain full continuity of purpose
between that life and this one. Once his current avatar achieved
sufficient power as a magician, the work continued from exactly
the point where it had left off, with no backtracking or redevelopment.
By doing this he demonstrates his conquest of Horus. Had Horus'
view been correct Set would have had to start over completely
in his new incarnation, as was the rule under the old formula
of I.N.R.I./IAO.

It is this ability to consciously maintain the continuity of the
Will between incarnations which Set now offers to humankind. This
is not a new ability; it has existed at all points in space and
time throughout the life of our universe. But on our little planet
conditions have never previously permitted it to be acquired by
any large number of persons. Such is not the case today, when
the Will aspect is manifesting more powerfully than at any previous
time. Changing conditions on cosmic levels have their reflection
in the lives of men and women. What has been a special skill of
those who have crossed the "Abyss" will, over the coming
century, become increasingly available to those who have not yet
done so.

People need not leave works incomplete when a life ends. Under
the Will, the being can discard a worn-out body and select a new
one adjusted for changes in the environment and zeitgeist. The
personality is not preserved, nor is the soul in many cases. The
Eagle creates a new soul for itself with every incarnation. Memory
of past lives is available or not, as the Eagle choses. The new
body and soul recapitulate the evolution of past lives in such
a way that, at the moment when the person reaches full development,
he finds himself continuing the work of the previous life at the
same point and level of development where it had left off. This
is true immortality; adaptable to the times it passes through
rather than maintaining an outmoded form beyond its usefulness,
but preserving a continuing purpose between lives.

Full identification with the Will aspect eventually leads the
magician into conscious contact with the center of power, sometimes
called Shamballa, that embodies the Will of the Life that is incarnate
as the planet Earth. Passage through this center frees the mage
from his obligations within the Earth's sphere of influence, and
enables him to participate as a conscious creator within the larger
scheme being expressed by the solar system as a whole.

Up to this present day, passage through this center was the only
means by which one could obtain clear conscious awareness of the
Solar scheme. On lower levels, contact has been deliberately blocked
in order that certain tasks might be accomplished within the Earth's
sphere. Had this blockage not been present, the disruptive effects
occurring at certain stages of the work would have spilled out
into the system, causing distortions and disturbances of the larger
work.

The barriers that block the Earth from the stars are the 30 Aethyrs
or Aires of the Enochian magickal system. In the Theosophical
system and Alice Bailey's related system, these barriers are called
"the etheric web surrounding the Earth". They were created
out of the elements in such a way as to form a maze around the
Earth through which no direct passage was possible. Only the most
skilled of mages could thread the maze in its entirety. The nineteenth
Enochian Call is a commemoration of the steps by which the barriers
were formed, and of the state the Life of the Earth had to assume
in order to accomplish her tasks. A full description of those
tasks and the means of their accomplishment has been given by
the Enochian intelligences, and is recorded in the form of an
Aquarian hero-mythos in The Book of the Seniors.

Now that these tasks have been nearly accomplished the barriers
surrounding the Earth can come down, enabling her and all those
living on her to enter fully into the Solar scheme on all levels
of existence. The Temples of the Tablets are one means by which
the barriers will be destroyed.

Any properly constructed and charged Temple attracts a flow of
divine Will from outside the barriers. The first inflow of this
energy pushes the barriers inwards, so that they are pinned down
to the Earth's surface underneath the Temple. As the Temple gathers
power through use a process of occult "burning" begins,
creating holes in the barriers through which other energies that
the Earth now needs can be brought in.

The effectiveness of this "burning" increases with the
number of Temples in active use. Any two Temples generate lines
of cosmic fire between them.4 These lines of fire also act to
burn through the barriers over their length. So the effectiveness
of this work at any point in time is determined by the number
of possible connections between the Temples then in existence.
The intelligences who presented the design of the Temple hope
that enough people will use this technique to create a web of
fire over the surface of the Earth sufficient to burn through
the barriers in just a few years' time.

Building the Temple is not an altruistic work, even though its
major purpose does not relate to individuals. There has not been
time for the full possibilities of the Temple to be discovered,
but some ways of using it have been found to be profitable.

First, the magician can use the Temple in a way similar to the
Golden Dawn practice of "building the Tree of Life in the
aura". The sphere of the Three Names is identified with the
chakra above the head. The bottom of the King's four-cube column
is at the level of the ajna chakra, with the wheel of the Seniors
extending outward from the same level. The column of fire in the
center of the Temple is identified with the spinal column, and
the lower Temple is built up around it.5

Steady use of this practice first causes a burning away of any
material in the body of light that has a low vibratory level,
cleaning and clarifying that body.6 Following this, there comes
a gradual, controlled burning away of the etheric webs that block
the flow of electric fire up and down the spinal column. This
takes place at a rate that allows the body and consciousness to
adapt to the changes without difficulty, although there will be
some periods of unpleasant perceptual effects as various parts
of the web dissolve. These effects are dangerous only if one seeks
to avoid experiencing them. Concurrently, there is an activation
of all the major chakras. As the process nears completion the
seven subsidiary centers in the head also begin to activate.

The author has been told, but can not yet fully confirm, that
the process leads to a state where the conscious being can be
fully aware of events on all four of the major perceptual levels
simultaneously and without confusion of levels. Additionally,
the person becomes able maintain full continuity of consciousness
in both the waking and sleeping states. The author's experience
so far tends to confirm this claim, but not as yet for all four
levels at once.

As the magician becomes increasingly conscious of higher levels
during this process, the Enochian intelligences will supply him
with information and experiences to aid him in making the changes
permanent, and to help him relate those experiences to planetary
and cosmic events. They will also call on any other inner-plane
sources the magician has to assist in this teaching. The information
will always be presented using the symbol-systems with which the
magician is most comfortable. It is not necessary to use the system
of Achad's Tree. However, the magician can expect that his understanding
of whatever system he uses will change substantially as the process
continues. Only in cases where the magician's system is totally
inadequate to express the principles being taught will the intelligences
attempt to create or guide the magician to another system adequate
to the need.

To use the Temple for astral exploration of the Enochian system,
the magician identifies himself with the King's column of fire,
and then invokes the specific angel or square of the Tablet he
wants to examine. He projects a beam of light out of himself,
through the part of the Temple representing the invoked force,
and out into the astral space surrounding the Temple. The beam
should cause a landscape or other scene to appear in that space,
into which the magician can project himself to explore.

For experienced Temple users, there is one other exercise that
the author would like to suggest. With the altars in their positions
inside the Temple's outer curtain, charge the Temple completely,
using the Calls of the Lesser Angles as well as the primary Call
of the Tablet. Do this repeatedly for about a week, picturing
the energy as accumulating inside the Temple, held there by the
outer curtain. Endeavor to make the charge as intense as possible.

After the Temple is fully charged, move all the altars to their
outside positions. Allow the accumulated energies to flow where
they will, without conscious direction. They will be drawn to
the outside of the Temple by the altars, where they will form
a lotus containing hundreds of petals. If the magician is able
to see the petals clearly, he will find that the tip of each is
inscribed with a sigil. Record several of these sigils for later
use. Move the altars back inside the Temple to close the lotus.

Memorize one of the recorded sigils so that its form can be held
clearly in the imagination for an extended period. During the
next work-session, call up the Temple, recite the Call of the
Tablet and invoke the Three Names, the King, and the Seniors.
Place the sigil in the King's pillar of fire, and endeavor to
make the intensity of the fire as great as possible. See the sigil
as being brought to a state of activation by the fire.

Project the consciousness into the sigil, and absorb the energy
in it. Then rise directly up through the pillar and the sphere
of the Three Names, and outwards into space, rising on the planes
until a scene appears. Explore the scene in the usual fashion.

The magician will find that the forces represented by these sigils
relate to aspects of existence that have nothing at all to do
with events within the Earth's sphere. Some relate to aspects
of the larger plan being worked out in the solar system. Others
relate to the energies of particular stars or constellations.
And many appear to connect to events occurring totally outside
the current cycle of manifestation in our universe.

The Temple of each Tablet has its own lotus, with its own sigils.
The Great Temple, formed by fusing the four Temples of the Tablets,
creates a larger lotus with several thousand petals. The author
has been told that combinations of sigils from adjacent petals
can also be used to generate gates to other worlds, making a truly
staggering number of worlds available to the magician. These are
the star-roads mentioned in point 0. Each sigil and combination
of sigils represents a link to a new world, a new existence, to
which the person who has been freed from his obligation to the
Earth can travel.

We who have gone through our spiritual evolution here on Earth
are in a position nearly unique in our cosmos. Because of the
conditions created here during the previous great aeonic cycle
while the Earth performed her special task, we have been subjected
to a degree of spiritual stress rarely seen in other places, and
never on such a large scale and for such a length of time as here.
It has produced in us a toughness, a spiritual invulnerability
that is normally only achieved at a much higher level of existence.
Having only others of our own kind with whom to compare ourselves,
it has not been apparent that this is so, but it is nevertheless
true.

This quality we have developed is valuable within the larger scheme
of which our solar system is a part. Compared to other beings
of our own level who evolved elsewhere, we are all of us like
hot wires, literally radiating spiritual force. If a monad or
soul from Earth is placed in a less intense evolutionary scheme,
it will act as a catalyst. It will cause the souls and monads
of that scheme to take on some of our own toughness, our ability
to channel significant amounts of spiritual force, but without
creating the spiritual stress by which we have achieved. This
intensifies and speeds up the manifestation of whatever principles
are being worked out in the scheme, advancing its evolution immensely
and producing a radiatory quality that could not otherwise have
been achieved.

Once the barriers around the Earth are down completely, nearly
half the adepts and mages here will be freed of any further obligations
to assist in her development. Others will come in to take our
places, and to acquire some of our special qualities. We can remain
here if we chose to do so, or pass on to other work. There are
far more worlds having need of our special qualities than there
are beings to provide them, so we have great choice in where we
go and what we do.

The sigils shown to each magician on the petals of the lotuses
are gates to those worlds that have need not only of the qualities
common to all the Earth-evolved, but also those qualities that
are specific to the magician, those that make him unique. Each
world is an opportunity for further development along specific
lines through world service. They do not represent all of the
possible paths open to the magician, but only those with which
he has the greatest resonance. He is not obligated to chose one
of the presented paths.

In any case, the final act of choice does not take place while
the mage is in incarnation. Incarnate existence places too many
limits on the perceptions for a clear choice to be made. But the
act of exploring these worlds while incarnate helps to stabilize
the awareness on those levels where the choice must eventually
be made.

Author's addendum, 1992:

Since writing the above, certain additional aspects of the initiatory
process have become clarified, particularly in reference to the
transition from solar to "cosmic" levels.

As was said above, the advent of the Piscean aeon resulted in
the elimination of the need for a death-like experience in the
transition from the lunar (mundane) consciousness to the solar
consciousness. It now appears that the advent of the Aquarian
aeon has resulted in a similar elimination of the need for a death-like
experience in moving from the solar to the cosmic levels.

The astrological keynote of the sign Pisces is sacrifice; thus
the act which broke the barriers between lunar and solar consciousness
was symbolized in the form of the scapegoat ritual. Jesus the
scapegoat took on all the "sins" of humanity, through
the Piscean process of compassion. And through compassion, he
identified himself with the entire race. Thus his death in the
ritual effectively took in all the future lunar-to-solar death
experiences of the race, eliminating the need for anyone else
to experience them.

In the current aeon, the Aquarius-Leo axis dominates existence.
The key to the working of this axis is in the principle that all
things are simultaneously One and Many. A human body is
Many, in that it is composed of a multitude of cells; it is One
in that it acts as a unified whole with respect to its environment.
Similarly the human solar consciousness has the appearance of
individuality, but is composed of numerous sub-minds bound together
by the force of the "monad" or divine consciousness.
The subjective appearance of a unique, self-aware individuality
(the "soul" or solar consciousness) is a second-order
effect, arising from the cooperative interaction of the sub-minds.

The process of moving from the solar to the cosmic levels is thus
not a matter of destroying the solar self. Rather, it becomes
a matter of training that self to become aware of its already-existent,
alternative state as a multitude of sub- minds acting in concert,
and to enable the solar self to move into that state at will.
In the state of multiplicity, the solar awareness eventually gives
its accumulated energy back into the unique but non-individualized
awareness of the divine consciousness. With practice, the person
can eventually move between the solar and the cosmic states at
will, without the need for any sort of destructive action or death
experiences. And beyond that, the divine awareness can eventually
learn to act simultaneously as both an individualized human soul
and as a non-individualized divine spark, being effectively in
two places at once.

The initial conditioning needed to move into the multi-mind state
must be done by the solar awareness itself. Thus the symbolism
of Scorpio, of force directed against the self by the self, is
still appropriate to the third stage of the initiatory process.

The mages responsible for the revelation of the "Enochian
Temples" material specifically -- and vehemently -- deny
the existence of the so-called "Abyss". They state that
there is absolutely no need for any sort of destructive action
or death-like experience in the transition from solar to cosmic
awareness.

Footnotes

1 Set's current avatar also makes extensive use of the astrological
wisdom. He has devised a technique of self-initiation based entirely
on observation of the planets' influence on the individual horoscope.
It now turns out that this technique by itself is capable of carrying
the individual through all of those initiations governed by Set
in the system presented here.

2 It is interesting to note that in Set's current avatar,
each of his major initiations has been followed almost immediately
by a confrontation with Horus' warriors. Additionally, the warriors
appeared just a few minutes after the dictation of point 0 was
finished. (An account of this incident is presented in The Book
of the Seniors.) But unlike the case mentioned in the text, in
these later cases the warriors found no way to arrest him, even
though in each instance there was a reason for arrest available
had they looked just a little harder. The author believes this
indicates that Set's attempt to close the old aeon was successful,
and his conquest of Horus was complete.

3 Note that in Achad's Tree, all five of the paths that
cross the Abyss represent one or another aspect of the Will. Shin
is the primal Will, merging the three fires; Peh its division
into the triple expression of fire-by-friction, solar fire, and
cosmic or electric fire. Ayin shows the will's restrictive and
destructive aspects, Resh its releasing and creative aspects,
and Samek its synthetic or coordinating aspect.

4 These lines do not transmit information between the Temples
unless the Temples were deliberately intended to resonate by the
magicians creating them, as would be the case if a magician used
the sample consecration without changing the dedications. Without
such deliberate connection, actions taken in one Temple do not
directly affect other Temples.

5 A physical Temple can also be used in a way similar to
the "Vault of Christian Rosencreutz" in the G.D. system.

6 Use of drugs, including caffeine and nicotine, tends to
nullify this effect.

Copyright 1988, 1992 by Benjamin Rowe

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